Christian Galan
French academic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christian Galan (born in 1960) is a French Japanologist and professor of Japanese language and civilization at Toulouse-Jean-Jaurès University (formerly Toulouse-le Mirail) and a researcher at the French Research Institute on East Asia (IFRAE; formerly Japanese Studies Center CEJ) of the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco, Paris).[1] He has devoted most of his work to the study of the Japanese education system.[2]
Christian Galan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 (age 65–66) France |
| Occupation | Author; professor; researcher |
| Nationality | French |
| Subject | Education in Japan; Japanese language |
Within the IFRAE, he directs the research group "Education, Childhood(s), and Society in East Asia" (EESAO)[3] and has co-directed with Emmanuel Lozerand the research group "Speech and debates of the Meiji era".[4] He is also director of the Toulouse branch of the CEJ, and co-director with Yves Cadot of the French academic journal Revue d'Études japonaises, established in 2024.[5]
Biography
After graduated from the Ecole Normale of Toulouse in 1982, Christian Galan defended a doctoral thesis in Japanese Studies at Inalco under the supervision of Jean-Jacques Origas in 1997.[6] He also holds the Habilitation to supervise research since 2006. His current teaching at the University of Toulouse-Jean-Jaurès focuses on language as well as Japanese history and society.[7]
His fields of research mainly concern the study of the Japanese educational system in its various dimensions, historical and educational in particular. His career as a researcher has been organized around six major axes to which his various publications are attached: the teaching of reading in Japan: history, politics and pedagogy;[8] the Japanese writing system and the question of illiteracy;[9] teaching Japanese in France and in Europe:[10] policy and research on pedagogy;[11] the history of the Japanese education system: a shift from Edo era education to education in the Meiji era, a chronology of the history of education, and a study of some pivotal times,[12] transfers of knowledge to do in education between Japan and China,[13] etc.; current reforms of the Japanese education system, including universities;[14] the history of childhood and young people in Japan.[15]
He has co-directed with Emmanuel Lozerand, the "Japan Collection" at Belles-Lettres Editions and, between 2010 and 2023, was in charge of a mission of general inspection for the Japanese language subject in secondary education for the French Ministry of National Education.[16]
Selected works (in English language)
In a statistical overview of Christian Galan's writings, WorldCat lists about 22 works in 57 publications in 3 languages in more than 580 library collections[17]
- Patrick Heinrich and Christian Galan (dir. by), Language Life in Japan: Transformations and Prospects, Abingdon, Routledge, 2010. (ISBN 978-0415855129)
- Christian Galan, I’m Learning Japanese, illustrations by Florence Lérot-Calvo, New York, Tuttle Publishing, 2010. (ISBN 978-4805315538)
- Christian Galan, "Language textbooks following the Meiji Restoration. Innovations from the Gakusei period", Cipango - French Journal of Japanese Studies, 2013, n° 2. (DOI https://doi.org/10.4000/cjs.281)
- Christian Galan and Patrick Heinrich (dir. by), Being Young in Super-Aging Japan: Formative Events and Cultural Reactions, Abingdon, Routledge, 2018. (ISBN 978-0367445188)
- Christian Galan, "What immediate lessons can France learn from the Japanese education system?", Le Monde, June 23, 2022. (URL https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2022/06/23/what-immediate-lessons-can-france-learn-from-the-japanese-education-system_5987730_23.html)
- Anne Gonon and Christian Galan, Occupy Tokyo: SEALDs, the Forgotten Movement, Leiden, Brill, 2023. (ISBN 978-9004545922)
- Christian Galan and Harald Salomon (dir. by), Histories of Children and Childhood in Meiji Japan, Abingdon, Routledge, 2023. (ISBN 978-0367651336)
- Christian Galan, "Eugenics and Education in Post-war Japan", translated by Karen Grimwade, Cipango - French Journal of Japanese Studies, 2024, n° 8. (DOI https://doi.org/10.4000/12vjt)
- Christian Galan, "Japan's lesson is clear: Simply reducing the school schedule is not enough for children's well-being", Le Monde, september 3 2025. (URL https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2025/09/04/japan-s-lesson-is-clear-simply-reducing-the-school-schedule-is-not-enough-for-children-s-well-being_6745027_23.html)